After experiencing another shock loss interstate the Cats are reassessing their mental capabilities more than their physical.

So far the Cats have only lost three games this season and not one has been over a goal. However, their last two defeats were both games that they should have easily won, considering their position on the ladder and their dominant lead before crashing.

Cats’ key midfielder, James Kelly, told the Geelong Advertiser that structurally the Cats are set and it's actually the team’s mental state that has to improve.

“It’s more mental than anything, I think. Structurally, what we do doesn’t change very much but it’s definitely a mental thing.” Kelly said.

“We thrive on kicking a couple of goals in a row and getting a bit of a run-on and when other teams do it to us we haven’t handled it that well this year.”

Overall, Kelly feels the Cats have been playing really hard football, although he realises that their record against lower ranking teams does suggest otherwise.

In saying that Kelly does admit that the Cats must knuckle down and improve in the next few weeks if they want to remain competitive come finals.

“Probably our record covers up how well we’ve been playing bar the last sort of three of four weeks, but if we’re going to play well in finals and win finals we have to get better,” Kelly explained.

According to Kelly the Cats have primarily mastered their playing strategies and it’s mainly their on-ground conduct that’s letting them down.

Following Sunday’s two-point defeat against the Crows, Kelly felt the Cats slipped in their defence and allowed the ball to be swept away too easily. The game they finished with wasn’t anything like the brand of footy they have delivered over the past few weeks.  

“The last couple of weeks have been good but they (Adelaide) were really good at keeping the ball off us and we didn’t defend well enough at all,” Kelly said.

“We let them get those short kicks and work ball down the ground which is not what we’re about and it just gave them confidence pills and made it easier for them, so that’s something we’ll review during the week and hopefully do better next week.

“Towards the end of the game we weren’t really ruthless enough and the last quarter we let them back in.

“Probably throughout the game we gave them too many entries and in the end the weight of numbers probably took over and they deserved to win.

“The way footy’s played today, it’s pretty rare that you get beaten by so much in inside-50s (60,52) and still win the game.

“We just have to get better defensively, more consistently.”